Anthology
by mixthealphabet
Summary: These are the stories of Lucy Heartfilia and Natsu Dragneel. — Nalu drabbles.
1. Is It Love?

**This is going to be a collection of never ending drabbles (prompts I received on tumblr), usually under 1k words and completely unrelated to each other.**

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******Prompt One: **Reedus paints his imagination other than the reality of Natsu, Lucy, and Happy taking a nap while fishing at their spot.

**Is It Love?**

What he sees makes him smile, it inspires him to the new and the beautiful and the true, but imagination is a big part of what he does, so Reedus can't help but wonder…

_Is it love?_

Reedus has painted people and nature, he has painted magic and the most absurd aspects of life. He has seen pain and trouble, as well as kindness and friendship, so that's what others see in his art: not just what he tries to represent, but what he is and was and feels.

It's a good thing for an artist to do, he thinks. The emotion of charcoal against paper isn't something just anyone is able to understand, but the complexity of art is what he enjoys the most; if he can portray the intangible, then, well, that's part of his talent just as much as it is part of his magic.

He sees them on his way back home.

Reedus lives near the forest, so he takes a shortcut through the river and draws himself a bridge. It was he who told Natsu about this fishing spot, so it's not like the boy's presence there is a surprise.

Scenes like this have happened before: He crosses the river, Natsu sleeps by the riverside.

Except it's not exactly like that, because Happy isn't the only one with him. Lucy leans against the boy, her head resting on his chest and the peacefulness in her expression as she sleeps is the sort of comfort that speaks of intimacy.

Natsu holds her close, his hands touching flesh where her shirt rides up her back and his head falls on top of hers, nose buried in her hair. He moves a bit, as if his magic is his fire and his fire is his energy, and it bursts at the seams whether he is conscious or not.

Happy is by their feet, curled around the two with a precision that would be surgical if it wasn't so obviously accidental. In his sleep, the exceed shows all the vulnerability he hides with snarky words. He says "I love you" in the way his tail is wrapped around Lucy's ankle, in the soft purr he lets out every time Natsu's leg brushes against his ear.

In this moment, more than friends, they are a family.

Before he even realizes what he is doing, Reedus is already halfway through their painting. It lacks nothing, the mage realizes, for there are colors and movement and tranquility.

More than anything, the image _feels_ private. It feels like lovers beneath a cherry tree, like mother and father and child, like friends who forgot they were supposed to be fishing. It's a mixture of so many things that Reedus has to stop for a moment to ask himself:

_Is it love?_

He has experienced it, once upon a time. He has seen it in Bisca and Alzack, in friends who disappeared through the years, and in strangers across the street. Yet, he still finds it surprising and wonderful, no matter how many times he decides that "yes, it is love".

Reedus saves the picture for the future, when Natsu and Lucy finally realize what they truly are behind their mask of best-friends-and-nothing-more. He smiles at the beauty of it all, like he has done a thousand times, rolls up his painting and goes home.

He decides to pretend that, in the image, Natsu is not pressing his lips against Lucy's in the chastest of kisses, in the most pure form of the love and devotion the two surely feel.

He decides to let them find out for themselves.


	2. Plot Twist

**Prompt Two:** The entire FT guild makes bets about them.

**Plot Twist**

Silence fell as the entire guild stopped to stare at Natsu and Lucy in the distance, the two obviously arguing about something while the dragon slayer walked his best friend back to her apartment.

"Well, I give them a month." Lisanna laughed, running a hand through her hair. "I can't believe he went to Hargeon to find the book just because she told him it was sold out in Magnolia." By her side, her brother chuckled, his overly large hands punching the counter with enthusiasm.

"Confessions are manly!" He exclaimed. "I say one week 'til Natsu tells her!"

Gray snorted into his drink, before setting it down on the table. "Did you see the way he was looking at her?" He turned, sharing a malicious laugh with Elfman. "I thought the idiot was going to burn us all without even realizing!"

Erza nodded, a light smile making its way into her stern expression.

"Yes, he was emitting more heat than usual." The girl conceded. "His attraction to her, however, has never been in question. What we don't know is if he intends to act on his feelings."

The redheaded mage took another bite of her cake, eyes lifted to meet Mira's, who had had her eyebrows furrowed for the entirety of their conversation. The barmaid softened her expression upon noticing Erza's gaze and moved to where the wrapping paper from Natsu's gift to Lucy still rested.

"I don't know, Erza." The girl said, folding the starry paper and slipping it into her pocket. "I had never seen Natsu be thoughtful, not in such a manner anyway, before she came to Fairy Tail."

"Lu-chan definitely likes him." Levy affirmed, coming up to the bar and sitting down by the Strausses. "He was the one to bring her to the guild. He protects her with everything he's got and he is always there for her when something happens." She shook her head, a smile playing at her lips. "You should hear the way Lu-chan talks about Natsu… It's like he's a prince out of some fairytale."

She and Lisanna giggled into their hands as the others grimaced.

"That's just wrong." Gray commented, ignoring Juvia's muttering about how he was her prince.

"I suppose Natsu could be considered a guarding dragon, if we took his magic into account." Came Erza's suggestion.

The image fit the couple a bit better: Lucy was the princess in her golden cage and Natsu was the dragon who took her away from it. A fairytale with a twist was more like them but it still didn't seem adequate when you took in consideration the rowdy atmosphere of Fairy Tail; in their reality, magic had less to do with petty curses and more to do with surviving.

Cana was suddenly standing on top of a table, shaking her barrel of beer in order to get everyone's attention. She swung it against Macao's forehead before he finally stopped her, yelling that everyone was already looking at her.

"Bets, you sissies! I'm talking about bets!" She laughed drunkenly. "I've got Lisanna with a month, Elfman with two weeks! Who else wants to try?"

Erza set down her fork, a hand going to her chin as she took a moment to think. "I would say two months, since Lucy's anniversary is near. Natsu has a tendency for drama and I believe Lucy would appreciate the romance of a confession on the same day they met."

Juvia nodded from her place next to Gray and raised her hand to call for Cana's attention.

"Juvia agrees, but she thinks love rival will be the one to say something. Lucy-san did seem incredibly touched by the gift just now."

"Yes, she did." Freed uttered after a moment of consideration. "Like Levy said, Lucy does seem to be more aware of her emotions than Natsu. I would expect her to do something about those feelings."

"I'm working with time limits, here." Cana pointed out.

"Three months, then." He added.

As the guild continued to make their guesses, Gajeel smirked in his corner, nibbling on a piece of metal. Wendy, who had joined him after the beginning of the bets, played with the hem of her dress, nervous.

"Shouldn't we say something?" The child asked, looking up to meet the hard eyes of the metal dragon slayer.

"Oh yeah," he started, sarcasm dripping from his words. "Let's say they've been fucking for the past two months, that the change in their scent almost killed our senses and that we didn't tell them because we thought it was none of their business." He snickered. "Yeah, that will go well."

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**I just really enjoy short stories. Sorry.**


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